Modi Offers Protesting AAP Member Bhagwant Mann Water

16/12/2015 1:36 PM IST
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Updated
15/07/2016 8:25 AM IST

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Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and India's next prime minister Narendra Modi, right, has a laugh with party leader Sushma Swaraj during a press conference at the party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Saturday, May 17, 2014. Thousands of cheering supporters welcomed Modi on his arrival in the capital Saturday after leading his party to a staggering victory in national elections. Modi and his BJP wiped out the Congress party that dominated Indian politics for all but a decade since the country gained freedom from British rule in 1947. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

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NEW DELHI -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi today offered a glass of water to AAP member Bhagwant Mann, who was protesting in Lok Sabha against the CBI raids on Delhi government secretariat where Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sits.

Mann, who was shouting slogans in the Well, felt uneasy and was apparently looking for water on the table of Lok Sabha secretariat officials who sit in the Well.

A smiling Modi offered him the glass of water kept on his table which the AAP member readily drank. The two exchanged smiles before Mann kept the glass on the table and the PM put the cover on it. Several BJP members thumped their desks at the PM's gesture.

Mann, thereafter, continued to raise anti-government slogans.

Mann, along with several Congress members, were protesting inside the Well soon after the Speaker disallowed their notices of motions to adjourn the Question Hour on various issues including role of Arunachal Pradesh Governor.

The Question Hour continued amidst the din.

The AAP member from Sangrur constituency in Punjab had been showing a bunch of papers to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to attract her attention. At one point, the Speaker warned Mann and said his behaviour was "not good".

Mann had then moved to the other side of the Well and was standing near the Prime Minister's seat when the incident occured.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who could not see what had happened as several of her party members were standing in the Well blocking her view, wanted to know what occurred. She went into peals of laughter after getting the details.

External Affairs Miniser Sushma Swaraj, seated in the front row along with the PM and other leaders, was also seen laughing.

While Mann and Sandhu Singh of AAP, as also some Congress members, were raising slogans in the Well, another party member Dharmveer Gandhi was standing on his bench holding a placard demanding renaming of Chandigarh airport after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.

A furious Kejriwal had yesterday accused the Modi government of targeting him over a day-long CBI raid at the Delhi Secretariat.